I refer to the letter titled "Proton Inspira overpriced compared to Lancer" and I agree totally with the writer's views.

Proton has been in existence for 25 years now. I remember when the Saga was first launched, what excitement!

I was only 13 years old and my first memory was one of my teachers driving to school in one.

Many of us, Form 1 and Perolehan kids then, crowded around it for a close up and feel.

My first Proton was a Wira 1.6 when I started employment, that was 15 years ago.

The car was OK, not great, but it was cheap and easy to maintain. My last Proton was eight years ago, and since then I have been driving foreign makes. This year, I decided to make a return to the national car.

My decision was based on the logic that after eight years, things must be much better in terms of quality, technology and service levels.

So I proceeded with one of their latest models. My problems started even before I started driving the car, on the day of scheduled collection, I was informed by my sales agent that there were problems with the car's electronics and it had to be rectified before handing over.

This is a car fresh out of the factory.

So it remained at Pre Delivery Inspection for a whole week and a half, before the problem was fixed and cleared for delivery. By that time, I was already regretting my decision to go back to Proton.

From the day I took the car:

i) The signal lights didn't work and had to be fixed.

ii) There were loud rattling sounds in the dashboard, it's as if it were a 10-year-old car instead of new one.

iii) There were also loud noises coming from the chassis, and eventually discovered that there were screws and bolts not tightened.

iv) The car also consumes more fuel on average than my last car eight years ago with an old model Mitsubishi engine. So much for the technology of their Campro engines.

Often my complaints are met with the usual statement that "it's a Proton what do you expect" or "its cheap, so what do you expect?" etc.

The point is not whether it is cheaper than other car manufacturers or whether or not is "just a Proton", but after 25 years the overall quality of Proton cars has not improved as much it should, in some models they have in fact gotten worse.

What's going on? Look at the improvement of Korean brands, once dubbed inferior, they are now matching the Japanese cars in build quality.

This is what happens to an over-protected entity, mediocrity becomes part of its character and they are oblivious to negative public opinion.

Laws of competition theorise that a company like Proton should have died out long ago, it's being kept alive on a respirator at the cost to the public.